Gen Z Tech Addiction Crisis with Oprah and Adam Alter

The Oprah Podcast

Harpo

Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@Oprah?sub_confirmation=1 Oprah is joined by a live audience in New York City for an in-depth look at the crisis of tech addiction among Gen Z. Millions of young people ages 13 to 28 struggle to separate themselves from the many addictive digital experiences from social media, video games to adult content. Oprah is joined by Adam Alter, a professor of marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business and author of Irresistible The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. Also joining this important conversation are Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr, author of Smartphone Nation: Building Digital Boundaries When Offline Isn't an Option and Dr. Christina Brezing, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University. Additional guests include Conor McLaren and Alex Slater, co-founders of “Quittr” - an app designed to help people struggling with an addiction to online adult content. We also hear from several young guests who are struggling with addictions to video games and adult content. BUY THE BOOKS! Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked https://adamalterauthor.com/irresistible Smartphone Nation: Building Digital Boundaries When Offline Isn't an Option https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/804258/smartphone-nation-by-kaitlyn-regehr-phd/ 00:00:00 - Tech addiction is a crisis 00:01:33 - Adam Alter, author of Irresistible 00:03:06 - Kaitlyn Regehr, author of Smartphone Nation 00:04:00 - Hate, Harm & Disinformation Is Algorithmically Prioritized 00:06:28 - Christina Brezing on Tech Addiction 00:08:54 - Nisha’s Son & Video Game Addiction 00:13:12 - What Can Parents Do? 00:17:18 - Maddie & Kyle – Adult Content Addiction 00:23:34 - Will AI Make It Worse? 00:24:31 - Conner & Alex – Quittr App 00:28:00 - Impact on Sex Lives 00:36:19 - A Generation Unsocialized Learn More About the Quittr App: https://quittrapp.com/oprah Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everybody. I'm happy to welcome you to the Oprah podcast. We're in New York with a live audience of our listeners.
0:19.9	So great to be with you all here, and we know the world is changing at the speed of light.
0:25.6	Every day we're grappling with a new disruption or cultural shift we've never faced before. So one of my intentions is to have meaningful conversations about the impact all this has on our real
0:40.7	lives. Lots of people say, oh, I'm addicted to my phone. How many of you ever said that? I'm addicted
0:44.3	to my phone. Well, anyone who has a member of Gen Z in their life, that's roughly between the
0:50.5	ages of 13 to 28, knows that tech addiction is becoming a real crisis.
1:01.1	Hear me clearly now.
1:02.8	That is for millions of families.
1:05.8	I'm very much aware of the toll that this is taking on parents because two members of my own team are now
1:12.1	struggling with their sons as we speak. One of them had to have her son, her 19-year-old son,
1:19.3	removed from their home because when she tried to get him off of her phone, he started hitting
1:26.0	her. So the obsession has reached a breaking point for a lot of people.
1:31.9	So let's dive right into this. Adam Alter is a research psychologist and professor. Hi, Adam.
1:38.0	Hi.
1:38.2	Of marketing at New York's universities, a Stern School of Business. and his New York Times bestseller is called
1:45.0	Irresistible, the rise of addictive technology and the business of keeping us hooked. Welcome,
1:53.2	Professor Alter. So how bad is it? How bad is it out there? It's pretty bad. It's bad in at least
1:58.2	two respects. One is that it affects a huge number of people,
2:01.1	as you said, millions. The Surgeon General report suggested that about 95% of teens between 13 and
2:07.8	17 are glued to their phones, usually using smartphones for social media purposes.
2:14.8	And, you know, the effects also are grave. For a lot of people, it means their social
2:19.9	interactions are ruined or harmed greatly. They struggle to do work. They have issues within their
	...

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